July 3, 2012

The Best Way to Express Gratitude

Nothing says “thank you” better than a kind gesture from the heart. It also doesn’t have to be fancy, expensive or time intensive. My favorite thing to receive is a handwritten thank you card – however, this time, because I love you so much – I’m going to kick it up a notch, thanks to my good friend and Go Inspire Go advisor, Sirima Sataman, who offered to use her amazing artistic swag to help me and the GIG team show a heartfelt thank you to those who have helped us along the way. This was perfect because GIG’s mission to inspire people to discover and use their power – talents, resources and network – to help others.

So when Sirima, founder of InkPaperPlate.com and an amazing artist who knows the letterpress better than I know my alphabet, offered to help me create handmade thank you cards, I had no better words to express my gratitude than “Wow.”

I hope you enjoy watching this GIG video we produced as much as we enjoyed producing it:

I honestly didn’t expect this to be such a cathartic experience. Here’s what I learned:

1. The letterpress ain’t no joke! It’s harder to do than it seems. However, Sirima did an amazing job coaching me through it. If you’d like to take a class from her, contact her through her website: InkPaperPlate.com

2. Schedule time to play. My life is crazy busy, and I’m sure yours is too. As I get older and busier, I realize that finding time to do something outside my comfort zone and enjoy is as important as cranking out the work. Amen to that!

3. Let go. Let loose. Just have fun. Ironically, I learned to unlearn protocol, strategy and color outside of the lines. In this picture you can see that the left logo was my first attempt to be perfect, in hopes of not making a mess. Sirima encouraged me to have more fun and let loose … and voila, the logo on the right is what I felt resonated with me most. I am trying to apply this to the rest of the things I do in life.

Thank YOU for watching and reading. What are your favorite ways to say "thank you"?

We want to hear from you - please answer in the comments section below.

3 comments:

The printing press looks like so much fun. I enjoyed watching you make the cards Toan, truly great to see your hands-on gratitude and I think the hand-written thank you note needs to make a huge comeback!

It's a wonderful site. I love your dream and you've fought for it. I was lucky to find your site by Juliette Crane because I do a course with her. I'd like to follow your wonderful suggestions.My way of saying thank you is to look in the eye and say THANK YOU, I love when my eyes are sincere with others. Muak from Spain